not err in considering
the suffering as a punishment of sin, but only in considering it as a
punishment for the sins committed by the Servant of God himself.
According to the view of both the Old and New Testament, every
suffering is [Pg 284] punishment. The suffering of a perfect saint,
however, involves a contradiction, unless it be vicarious. By his
completely stepping out of the territory of sin, he must also step out
of the territory of evil, which, according to the doctrine established
at the very threshold of revelation, is the wages of sin, for otherwise
God would not be holy and just. Hence, as regards the Servant of God,
we have only the alternatives: either His sinlessness must be doubted,
or the vicarious nature of His sufferings must be acknowledged. The
persons speaking took up, at first, the former position; after their
eyes had been opened, they chose the latter.

Ver. 5, "_And He was pierced for our transgressions, crushed for our
iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was upon Him, and by His
wounds we are healed._"

[Hebrew: hva] "He" stands in front, in order emphatically to point out
Him who suffered as a substitute, in contrast to those who had really
deserved the punishment: "He, on account of our transgressions." There
is no reason for deviating:, in the case of [Hebrew: Hll], from the
original signification "to pierce," and adopting the general
signification "to wound;" the LXX. [Greek: etraumatisthe]. _The
chastisement of our peace_ is the chastisement whereby peace is
acquired for us. Peace stands as an individualizing designation of
salvation; in the world of contentions, peace is one of the highest
blessings. Natural man is on all sides surrounded by enemies; [Greek:
dikaiothentes ek pisteos eirenen echomen pros ton Theo dia tou kuriou
hemon Iesou Christou], Rom. v. 1, and peace with God renders all other
enemies innocuous, and at last removes them altogether. The peace is
inseparable from the substitution. If the Servant of God has borne our
sins, He has thereby, at the same time, acquired peace; for, just as He
enters into our guilt, so we now enter into His reward. The justice of
God has been satisfied through Him; and thus an open way has been
prepared for His bestowing peace and salvation. The _chastisement_ can,
according to the context, be only an actual one, only such as consists
in the infliction of some _evil_. It is in misconception and narrowness
of view that the explanation